Driving arrangement for circular knitting machines



Aug. 20, 1968 c. H. WAINWRIGHT DRIVING ARRANGEMENT FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 1'7, 1965 IA i/E rw 6421/; E #5651361 11.4% nae w Aug. 20, 1968 c. H. WAINWRIGHT 3,397,554

DRIVING ARRANGEMENT FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Aug. 1'7, 1965 ZSheets-Sheet 2 HUN! 17 wen/me F G 2 3 W K M 3 y glad 1V United States Patent ()1 fice 3,397,554 Patented Aug. 20, 1968 3,397,554 DRIVING ARRANGEMENT FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Carlyle Herbert Wainwright, Leicester, England, assignor to The Bentley Engineering Company Limited, Leicester, England Filed Aug. 17, 1965, Ser. No. 480,274 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Sept. 15, 1964, 37,570/ 64 8 Claims. (Cl. 66-56) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An improved driving arrangement for knitting machines is provided which comprises in combination an oscillating gear or quadrant together with means for oscillating the gear or quadrant and a coupling device whereby the connection of the oscillating means to the driving means may be interrupted and reconnected as and when required. The to and fro motion of the oscillating gear or quadrant is most conveniently provided by mounting cam means on a driven shaft so as to provide free rotation thereon and the coupling is arranged to connect it to and disconnect it from the shaft as and when required.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to driving means in knitting machines and is more particularly concerned with circular knitting machines equipped with a mechanism whereby knitting may be performed at some times by reciprocatory motion and at other times by continuous rotary knitting motion. In such machines the performance of knitting by reciprocatory motion is effected by means of an oscillating gear or quadrant, engaging a driven pinion which is clutched into the drive for the knitting motion in place of a continuously rotating gear drive at appropriate times. Heretofore, it has been the practice to have the oscillating gear or quadrant driven constantly throughout the operation of the machine even at times when it is not used to' transmit reciprocatory motion.

The invention has for an object to provide an improved driving arrangement in which the load and stresses im-- posed by the reciprocating mass of the oscillating gear or quadrant and associated parts can be eliminated when the reciprocating motion is not required, thereby permitting a higher running speed to be achieved.

In accordance with the invention there. is provided in a circular knitting machine the combination with an oscillating gear or quadrant and means for oscillating it on a coupling device whereby the connection of said means to its driving means may be interrupted and reconnected as and when required. Conveniently cam means employed for imparting to and fro motion to the oscillating gear or quadrant is mounted on a driven shaft so as to be capable of free rotation thereon and the coupling means is arranged to connect it to and disconnect it from said shaft as and when required. Thus the stresses which would otherwise be set up by the oscillating mass of the oscillating gear or quadrant and by the cams driving it, can be eliminated by disconnecting the cam means from its drive during periods of continuous rotary knitting. It will be appreciated that the greater part of the knitting action is performed by continuous rotary knitting and the elimination of stresses as aforesaid can greatly assist the achievement of higher running speeds in such a machine.

In practising the invention the coupling means may be provided with an actuating device which can be brought into action at appropriate times from a main control device such as the main control drum of the machine. The actuating device may include an actuating member which is movable into and out of the path of a part which normally rotates with the cam means but when impeded will have limited turning movement relatively to the cam means and by such movement is arranged to release the coupling device. Thus the momentum of the cam means will be utilised to ensure prompt release of the coupling means to arrest the drive to the cam means.

The invention is conveniently applied to a cam driven oscillating gear or quadrant of the form described in our USA. Patent No. 3,186,242 wherein there are complementary cams housed within a quadrant or oscillating gear of hollow form. The cams are constantly revolving and by contact with rollers positioned on opposite sides of the axis of the cams the quadrant is driven first in one direction and then the other.

The application of the invention to a construction as described in said patent is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings and will now be described with reference to the drawings in which,

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of a quadrant assembly incorporating a cam drive with a coupling device for coupling the cams to the shaft on which they are mounted and uncoupling them therefrom;

FIGURE 2 is a view partly in section taken on the line AA of FIG. 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing some of the mechanism of FIG. 2 as seen from above and to the right of FIG. 2.

An oscillating gear or quadrant of a form used in circular knitting machines is indicated at 1 in FIG. 1. The gear teeth 1a are cut around an arc struck from the pivotal axis which is provided by the shaft 2. The two rollers or cam followers 3 and 4 are mounted on spindles adjustably secured to the quadrant. Roller 3 is in contact with the periphery 5a and roller 4 is in contact with the periphery 5b of complementary cam lobes formed on a hub portion 5 (FIG. 2). The cam assembly is freely mounted on a constantly revolving shaft 6 which is carried in bearings such as 7 mounted in the walls of the gear box. One such wall is indicated at 8 in FIG. 2. A driving collar 9 is keyed to the shaft 6 and is secured against lateral displacement by a set screw (not shown). The hub 5 of the cam assembly is thus positioned with running clearance between the driving collar 9 and the cage of the bearing 7. A disc cam 10 (which is required for purposes not associated with this description) may conveniently be used to retain the shaft 6 in position in its bearing. The quadrant 1 is itself laterally positioned by being secured by set-screws (not shown) to the shaft 2 which is freely mounted in the side walls, such as 8, of the gear box.

The hub 5 of the cam assembly is provided with a bosslike projection to which is attached by a shoulder screw 11 a latch member 12. One end of the latch member is shaped to engage a slot 9a cut in the periphery of driving collar 9 as shown in FIG. 1.

The other end has screwed therein a rod 13 which projects through an aperture 14 formed in the cam lobes 5a and 5b as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 3 the end of the rod 13 can be seen engaging a slot 15 cut in a component 16 which is located on the hub 5 of the cam assembly FIG. 2 where it is retained by a circlip 17. Component 16 is freely mounted on the hub 5 and the slot 15 is cut with one end 15a at a greater distance from the axis of rotation than is the slot end 15b. In other word-s if the component 16 is rotated in an anticlockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3 then the rod 13 will be cammed nearer to the centre of the axis of rotation as the slot end 15b approaches the rod. The effect of this camming action may be imagined by referring to FIG. 1 where component 16 is shown in broken lines. As component 16 is rotated in a clockwise direction as viewed 3 in FIG. 1 then the rod 13 will be cammed towards the centre of shaft 6 thus lifting the nose of latch member 12 clear of the slot 9a in driving member 9. A tension spring 18 anchored at one end 19 to the hub of the cam assembly and at its other end 20 to the component 16 is provided to urge component 16 to the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 in which the rod 13 is furthest from the centre of shaft 6 and the latch member 12 is engaged in the slot of driving collar 9.

The operation of uncoupling and coupling the cam assembly to the driven shaft upon which it is mounted will now be described.

In the position shown in FIG. 1 latch 12 is engaged in the slot of driving collar 9 which is keyed to the constantly revolving shaft 6. Thus, as the latch is attached by shoulder screw 11 to the cam assembly the cams will revolve with the shaft 6 and cause reciprocating motion of the quadrant 1 about the axis of shaft 2. To disconnect the cam assembly from the drive shaft a cable operated control shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is brought into action. FIG. 3 shows a block 21 secured to the wall 8 of the gear box which has an aperture 8a formed in it to allow access to the inside. Block 21 provides an anchorage 22 for one end of a sheath of a cable 29 and also a slot and fulcrum pin 23 for a catch lever 24 having an arm 24a. A compression spring 25 housed in the block urges an arm of lever 24 against a stop pin 26 and a link 31 connects said arm to the cable 29. By pulling on the cable the catch lever arm 24a may be svwmg clear of component 16 as shown in FIG. 2. This is the position of the catch lever when the cam assembly is being driven. When it is desired to disconnect the cam assembly from the drive shaft a suitable cam on the main control drum of the machine is utilised to relieve tension in the cable 29 and allow catch lever end 24a to be sprung into the path of component 16. This is the position shown in FIG. 3. Rotation of component 16 will be arrested but the cam assembly will continue to revolve until rod 13 has progressed to the end 15b of the slot 15 and has lifted the catch lever 12 out of the slot in the driving collar 9 thereby disconnecting the cam assembly from the drive.

To couple the cam assembly to the drive shaft 6 the action just described is reversed. A cam on the control drum of the machine is again used to operate the cable 29 and remove catch lever end 24a from component 16. This allows tension spring 18 to rotate component 16 until the rod 13 is guided by slot 15 to a position in which latch 12 is resting on the periphery of driving collar 9. When the slot in the driving collar rotates to the position shown in FIG. 1 the latch 12 will be sprung into the slot and thus the cam assembly will be carried round with the latch.

By positioning the slot in the driving collar 9 so that it registers with the latch 12 when the quadrant is at an end of its throw and is thus practically stationary the mass of the quadrant will have little or no effect on impeding movement of the cam assembly and engagement or disengagement of the latch will be obtained with the minimum of effort.

What I claim is:

1. In a circular knitting machine, the improvement which comprises an oscillating gear or quadrant cam means for oscillating said gear or quadrant, a coupling device and driving means associated therewith whereby the connection of the said cam means to the driving means may be interrupted and re-established as and when required.

2. The improvement according to claim 1 wherein the cam means imparts to and fro motion to the oscillating gear or quadrant, is mounted on a driving shaft so as to be capable of 'free rotation thereon and thecoupling device is arranged to connect itto and disconnect it from said shaft.

3. The improvement according to claim 1 wherein the coupling device, has an actuating device which can be brought into action at appropriate times from a main control drum of the machine. p I

4. The improvement according to claim 3 wherein the actuating device includes an actuating member which is movable into and out of the path of a part which normally rotates with the cam means but when impeded has limited turning movement relatively to the cam means and by such movement is arranged to release the coupling device.

5. The improvement according to claim 1 wherein the cam means imparts to and fro motion to the oscillating gear or quadrant.

6. The improvement according to claim 1 wherein there are complementary cams housed within a quadrant or OS- cillating gear of hollow form, which cams while'constantly revolving are arranged to drive the gear or quadrant first in one direction and then the other by contact with rollers positioned on opposite sides of the axis of the cams.

7. The improvement according to claim 1 comprising a driving shaft havingmounted for rotation thereon an operating device to be driven by the shaft to impart to and fro movement to the oscillating gear or quadrant, and having a latch lever pivoted to said operating device and normally biassed to a position to engage with a slot in a driving member attached to said shaft, and a control member also mounted to turn on said shaft and co-operating with the-latch lever so that when the latter overruns the control member it will be disengaged from the slot in the driving member, means being provided to arrest the motion of the control member so as to disengage the latch lever.

8. The improvement according to claim 7 wherein the control member is inter-connected with the latch lever by a pin and slot connection so disposed that relative movement-of the pin along the slot has a camming action to rock the latch lever.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,288,594 12/1918 Houseman 6656 1,853,519 4/1932 Page 6656 2,608,075 8/1952 Palmer et a1 6656 3,292,392 12/ 1966- Squillario et'al. 66 -154 XR MERVIN STEIN, Prin a/y Examiner. R. FELDBAUM, Assistant Examiner. 

